


Virtually Perfect

by Rina (rinadoll)



Category: Green Gables Fables
Genre: F/M, Love Letters, Moving On, Online Dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 16:35:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3699344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinadoll/pseuds/Rina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anne Shirley has found the perfect lover – online. A loose adaptation of the end of Anne of the Island, Green Gables Fables style.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Virtually Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2015 Unconventional Courtship challenge, where you take a Harlequin romance description and use it as the basis for your plot. The full Harlequin blurb is at the end.

“Anne, darling, I have a confession.” Philippa Gordon poked her head into Anne’s room, a little shame faced.

“Am I going to yell or laugh?” Anne asked.

“Hopefully the latter, probably the former,” Phil said, shutting the door behind her.

Anne closed her book and crossed her arms. “Let’s hear it.”

“It’s more of a see it.” Phil pulled out her iPad and handed it to Anne.

Anne frowned and looked back up at Phil.

“It’s our final semester, Anne. This is it. After this, we are going to be shoved into the world of adults. Forever.”

“Okay,” Anne said, drawing it out.

“I don’t want you to go out there unprepared. I know that the guys who have asked you out have been, mostly, unconscionable and not up to your standards.” She sped up at Anne’s dark look. “And I know you have worked so hard and I know you’ve been social and gone out and all of that. But there are good guys out there and it would mean so much to me if you would try this. Just for fun. Please.” She looked like she was considering going on her knees, but instead clasped her hands.

“This is _my_ dating profile?” Anne asked, just to be sure.

“I started it last week,” Phil admitted. “I wanted to give you a stack of letters to go through.”

“Phil!” Anne groaned, scandalized but laughing despite herself.

“I know! But Anne, there’s this one message. I think you’ll like it a lot.” 

Anne shook her head but Phil forged on.

“Just read them,” she said, pleading. “Here’s the username and password. Edit it if you want, or even delete it. I just want you to see who is out there. You haven’t gone out as much with the group, since, you know. The Gil thing. Maybe this will help. Okay?”

Anne frowned. “I’ll think about it,” she said, reluctantly.

“That’s all I ask,” Phil said, leaving.

Anne stared at the screen Phil had left. It was true, she’d gone out less since Gil started taking Christine Stuart around. It wasn’t that she minded--she’d turned Gil down and it was perfectly right for him--but--somehow, it--

She grabbed the iPad and opened the messages. She’d worked very hard for a very long time. It wouldn’t hurt to just read them, even to prove there weren’t any knights in shining armor online.

****  
“Sorry, sorry,” Gilbert said, rushing down the hall. Fred was sat in front of his door, waiting. “I didn’t think coffee was going to go on as long as it did.”

“This was the online date?” Fred asked, pushing himself up.

“Yeah,” Gilbert unlocked the door.

“And you couldn’t do better by her than a coffee date?”

“A mid-afternoon caffeine boost is appreciated by college students everywhere,” Gilbert protested. 

“It lacks imagination,” Fred said. 

Gilbert winced. “I’m trying to get over the Queen of Imagination,” he said. “It didn’t seem prudent to try and go out with someone just like her.”

“Well, did you have a good time, at least?” Fred asked.

“God, no,” Gilbert said, making a face. “She was so boring. It felt twice as long as it actually was.”

Fred laughed. “I’m sorry, man. Anyone else looking possible?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Gilbert said, pulling out his hockey kit. “I sent a message this weekend and haven’t heard back, but she seemed smart and knew how to write well, so that’s a plus. She didn’t have her location, though, so I don’t know if it’ll work.”

“How far out do you have to avoid?” Fred asked.

“Chris asked me to avoid anyone in town, but I’ve mostly been looking around Regina,” Gilbert said. “I think I’ll end up there this summer, and the drive isn't bad from here, so it makes sense."

“As much as any of this does,” Fred said.

Gilbert shrugged. “It’s pretty low stress, gives me something to focus on besides school and works around Christine. It’s fine for now.” Like Christine, it only sort of helped him move on from the dream of Anne, but it was a start.

****  
Tennyson, Of Monsters and Men, sarcasm and whimsy and romance. Maybe there were knights in shining armor online. At least one. JP. 

Anne, despite herself, swooned.

Phil cheered.

****  
It had been a month, and the seemingly promising Delia still just wanted to email. Not even text. Email. She loved words and said that it was romantic, the chance to learn about each other through old-fashioned love letters. She quoted the Brownings, the Fitzgeralds, Keats. 

Gilbert quoted Flaubert and Wilde. Even a little Joyce - but carefully. 

She didn’t tell him off, at least. 

****  
“You’re still talking to him online? Anne, you are doing this all wrong! You’re supposed to meet in person. You can’t date online!” Phil flapped her hands emphatically.

“You’re the one who wanted me to try online dating! We’re online, we’re dating. Sort of.”

“You were supposed to avoid the sort of,” Phil said, exasperated. 

Anne shrugged. She wouldn’t admit it to Phil, but there was a little part of her that wanted to take this offline. JP was a dream come true and the closest she’d ever come to being infatuated with someone. 

But at the same time, it was so perfect in email. It was so easy to write the right words, and there was just so much romance in the idea of letter writing. And when things got a little too--well, it was also easy to take a step back and---

Okay, maybe she _was_ doing it wrong.

****  
Almost two months in and Gilbert was starting to think he could fall in love with her. Delia was coy about meeting, claiming busy-ness in her final semester, but open and lively and lovely and funny on the screen. 

It was getting harder to know what to do. He hadn’t bothered emailing or meeting anyone else since her first email. He knew there was a good chance he was being catfished, and that was always in the back of his mind. That distance helped him stay at could-fall, and not really falling.

And yet--he’d only really wanted to get over Anne. Delia, no matter who she was, had helped with that. He dreamed about Delia now, kissing her and holding her. It was Delia he wanted to curl up and watch TV and movies with. Maybe she looked a little like Scarlett Johansson in his fantasies, but that was acceptable without more detailed information. His default wasn’t Anne anymore.

Maybe he wouldn’t get to meet her, maybe she wasn’t real, but at least he knew he could fall for someone else again.

****  
Anne deleted and retyped her email. Three times. 

JP wanted to meet, after graduation. Did she want to meet him? 

Yes and no. He was funny and smart and knew his literature. She’d dragged this on for almost an entire semester, and his patience had never flagged. He pushed a little bit at her boundaries, and backed off when she pushed back. He listened and offered advice or comfort in turn, and took both from her. She found herself daydreaming often about meeting him, and kissing him and--

She deleted and retyped again.

She tabbed over to Twitter instead of sending, to see that Josie had sent her a direct message asking if she had heard about Gilbert proposing to Christine because Josie wanted all the details.

She sent the email. 

****  
Gilbert knew it was ridiculous, knew he shouldn’t, but his hand didn’t listen to his brain as he passed his credit card over with no hesitation. He hadn’t talked to Anne in several months, outside of a few words when they’d run into each other a few times. But they were technically friends. Getting into college had been a big thing together, it only made sense to mark its ending together.

He didn’t know what to think when he saw Anne carrying his flowers at graduation. Were they more than technically still friends? Was this a sign? Of _what_?

She didn’t catch his eye and he didn’t see her in the crowd when it was over. He couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed, but he was too tired to track her down. 

He’d already made plans to finally meet Delia. She liked him, she was interested in dating him, she was wonderful and smart and funny and charming and not Anne. Maybe this was the goodbye.

****  
Anne twirled through the kitchen while Diana laughed at her. “It’s so good to be home,” she said, laying her hands on everything she could. She’d gotten home too late the night before to properly greet Green Gables.

“We’re going to have the best last summer,” Diana said cheerfully. “We’ve got two weeks before work starts, then two whole months before you ship off to Summerside and all the time in the world before then. Unless, of course, you ditch me for JP,” she teased. “Friday’s the big day!”

“Not anymore,” Anne said, slowing to a stop. “He emailed after graduation Sunday and had to postpone, said he was coming down with something. Guess the stress of the semester caught up with him.” She frowned. “He did seem to have a lot going on. I haven’t heard from him since then. Do you think he flaked? Ugh.”

“No, he wouldn’t!” Diana objected. “Anne, no. He was genuine and sweet. Don’t say that.”

“I guess,” Anne said. “I’ll think positively.”

****  
Oh, this wasn’t good.

****  
The week passed with no word from JP. Anne wasn’t sure how to feel. Hurt and a little relieved. Annoyed. Hurt again. She didn’t want to talk about it much with Diana. She hated the tiny bit of hope that sprung up every time she checked her email, and the crush of it when there was nothing. This was supposed to be a lark, but it was feeling uncomfortably real right now.

She had hoped to spend as much time with her old crowd as she could stand, but it wasn’t the same. Jane was visiting with her fiancee before going back west, and spent a lot of her time introducing him to relatives and finishing wedding plans. Ruby was far more obsessed with boys and fashion than Anne remembered, and much less fun to be around. Josie was not worth speaking about. Gilbert was nowhere. She wanted to thank him for the flowers, and she’d thought he was coming home before starting med school in the fall, but maybe he’d found a summer job in between. He worked so hard. Or maybe he was with Christine, who wouldn’t appreciate her bringing the flowers up. She could be the jealous sort. Or-

The front door opened and closed. “Anne?”

“In the kitchen,” Anne called. 

Marilla and Rachel walked in, looking tired. Anne rushed to relieve them of their bags. “Dinner will be ready soon,” she said. “Davy and Dora are on a playdate at the Boulters and should be home any time now.”

Marilla and Rachel traded glances. “Anne,” Marilla began, but was interrupted by the front door slamming open and shut. 

“We’re HOME!” Davy cried, running into the kitchen and barreling into Anne. Dora followed more sedately, sliding next to Marilla.

“Did you two have fun?” Anne asked, hugging him.

“We did! Lots,” Davy said. “Mrs. Boulton let us play in the barn and we found so many things,” he said, digging through his pockets and producing little boy treasures. “She didn’t want us underfoot, she said, because she was talking to her friends. Anne, did you know that Gilbert is in the hospital? You didn’t say. Mrs. Boulter says he’s real sick and he worked too hard at college and he’s dying. You didn’t work too hard at college, did you, Anne? We don’t want you to die,” he finished, clinging to Anne.

Anne barely heard his plaintive question, her head spinning. She groped for the kitchen counter. “No, Davy,” she said, through numb lips. “I didn’t.”

She barely noticed Rachel pulling the twins away to clean up for dinner. Her eyes met Marilla’s as Marilla helped her sit at the table. “Marilla?”

“We wanted to tell you,” Marilla said, apologetically. “We just heard. It doesn’t look good, Anne. He ignored the signs of appendicitis to finish his exams and graduate, they barely operated in time, but he was too run down and ended up with a sepsis infection. He’s fighting, but they don’t know, Anne. I’m sorry.” 

Anne stumbled to her feet. “I see. I’m not hungry tonight, Marilla, please finish it.” She fled for her room. 

A life without Gilbert? That was impossible. He’d never been far from her thoughts all semester, even with their friendship in tatters. She’d always known he was there. He had to always be there.

She spent the whole night in front of her window, staring into the dark. She’d been a fool, all this time. It was clear to her now that she’d been wrong, so wrong.

She loved Gilbert. It was that simple. And she’d lost him. 

How many months had she tossed away? Years, even. She’d known all along how he felt, and she’d ignored it. She knew she’d had reasons, but they were meaningless now. She’d been scared and she’d been wrong and it was too late. 

She grieved what could have been.

When dawn broke, she pushed herself to her feet, tired but resigned. By habit, she checked her phone. It was lit up with texts and tweets about Gilbert but the last, from Ruby, caught her eye. 

They’d heard from his aunt. He was going to be okay. She sat down, hard, on her bed and finally cried.

When the tears were gone, she sat down and went through her emails and texts.

She emailed Ruby, thanking her for the update and setting up a shopping date.

She emailed Jane, offering to help with the wedding flowers she had complained about.

She emailed Diana, just to say she loved her.

She emailed Phil, explaining everything. She loved Gilbert and regretted the last four years. She supported his relationship with Christine because she wanted him to be happy. Phil had been right about JP and an offline relationship. Maybe JP wasn’t a knight in shining armor or maybe he was, but she knew he had never been anything less than lovely and they both deserved a chance to see what happened. 

She emailed Gilbert, thanking him for the flowers and sending him her best wishes for a speedy recovery.

She emailed JP, enquiring after his health, letting him know that she’d enjoyed their emails and found herself missing him so she hoped they could meet soon.

She tweeted Josie a link to a One Direction fic. She couldn’t think of anything else to give her, but didn’t want to leave her out. Josie was part of her Avonlea family and she didn’t want to lose anyone, not even her. 

All this done, Anne finally let herself sleep.

****  
It was almost a week before the hospital let Gilbert go home. His mother fussed and he finally shut the door to his room, claiming a need for sleep.

As if he hadn’t slept enough in the last ten days.

He’d gotten on top of his text messages in the hospital, but he hadn’t been able to tackle his staggeringly stuffed gmail. He started with the flagged emails and his breath caught. Two emails in a row - one from Anne, one from Delia.

He hovered, unsure which to read first. Alphabetical, he decided. 

They were both perfect.

****  
Anne dressed herself carefully in her favorite green dress and braided her hair into a crown. Gil-well, Gilbert had always complimented both, and if he liked them, then hopefully JP would, too.

JP, who had apologized profusely for his silence and been sicker than he’d originally thought. He was happy she was still willing to meet and suggested a picnic lunch in Regina. He knew her well - Anne couldn’t imagine a more perfect first date.

She’d visited Gilbert twice in the week that he’d been home. It hurt, more the first time, and she couldn’t bring herself to ask after Christine, but she hoped that they could rebuild their friendship. It felt a little hollow after realizing the depth of her feelings, but she needed him in her life no matter what.

But now, JP. It was possible that she needed him in her life, too. Only one way to find out.

Anne admired herself in the mirror. Time to go.

****  
Gilbert stared down at his phone, unable to catch his breath. Impossible.

But there it was - a text from Phil Gordon, telling him that she wasn’t sure she should say this, but - to try again with Anne.

He leaned against his car door and looked at the coffee shop across the street, where Delia was waiting for him. 

That wasn’t fair. 

He’d loved Anne for years. But Delia liked him. And he liked her, so very much. He closed his eyes and sighed in frustration. 

It wasn’t fair at all. But he’d been waiting to meet Delia for so long, and even this news couldn’t change that.

****  
Anne nervously played with the straw of her drink. JP had promised to provide the food if she supplied drinks, so they’d arranged to meet at the coffee shop across from the Conservatory. She’d brought a copy of Pride and Prejudice to identify her - her red hair should have been enough, but she, maybe, had described it as dark. Before she’d entertained any real thoughts of meeting him, it had been fun to be who she dreamed - Cordelia with the long, flowing raven hair - and she’d wanted to hold on to that as long as she could. Hopefully he understood. She thought he would. He always--

She was jolted out of her dreamy thoughts by the ringing of the bell on the door. It was a cute guy, but it wasn’t JP. It was Gilbert.

Their eyes met, his face looking as surprised and dismayed as she felt. This was uncomfortable enough without being in front of someone she knew. 

His eyes dropped down to her book and he looked startled. He made his way over, slowly, and she saw the book in his hand. Tennyson. Her stomach dropped.

“Delia?”

“JP?” Her voice sounded squeaky. 

Gilbert dropped into the seat across from her. “I don’t--I don’t know what to say,” he admitted. 

She shook her head in agreement. 

After a beat, they started to speak at the same time. Gilbert waved her on.

“I’m glad it’s you,” Anne said, in a rush, and Gilbert’s jaw dropped. “I know. I’m sorry. But it’s true. I realized when we thought--when you were sick. It’s always been you.”

“I wanted it to be you,” Gilbert said. “I tried to get over you. I think I could have. But I’m glad it’s you, too.” He shook his head and started laughing.

“It’s not funny,” Anne protested, but her lip twitched. 

“No,” he agreed, trying to stop. “This is - it’s perfect. What are the odds? This is some epic destiny right here. There’s only one thing we can do.”

Anne raised her eyebrow.

“Let’s picnic.”

They picked up the basket from Gilbert’s car and settled into the back garden of the Conservatory. Every so often, one of them would start laughing again, still astonished and overjoyed by the turn of events.

They ended up laying on the blanket, facing each other, drinking each other in.

“I thought you were dating Christine,” Anne said, breaking the quiet.

Gilbert shook his head. “Chris has a girlfriend,” he said. “Her family loves them, but her grandfather helps with tuition and wouldn’t approve. Her brother asked me to help and I was glad to. I like them both and it was a nice distraction.” He reached out and Anne laid her hand on his. “Delia from Regina, huh? At least I used my real names.”

“You--ohh, John Patrick. Well played, sir.” 

He bowed his head, taking his due.

“Well, you know I always wanted to be called Cordelia. You let me live that dream. And,” she grinned, “you never know. You could have been a crazy person.”

“I am,” Gilbert said. “I’ve loved you since you slammed your whiteboard on my head. That is the very definition of crazy.”

“Not as crazy as being in denial for years,” Anne said sheepishly.

“Years?” Gilbert stared at her.

“I think it started when you found me under the bridge,” Anne admitted, flushing.

“No way! You made me suffer for months before you forgave me!” He shoved at her shoulder and Anne dodged, laughing.

“Denial,” she said. “Total denial. But when I thought that it was all over, that I'd lost you forever, Gil, I couldn't bear it. I had to face what I felt, finally, even if it was too late.”

“But it wasn’t. We're stuck with each other, now, forever.” He squeezed her fingers. “This has been too long in the making. We’re going to make up for all this lost time.” 

“I can’t wait. I want to stay right here, all summer long.” She made a face. “This is the first time I haven't been excited thinking about leaving for my job in August. I'm going to be teaching in Summerside for three years, Gil.”

“Well, I'm going to Saskatoon for four,” Gilbert said. “But we have the summers, right? And we can get through anything as long as we’re together.”

“Together. Oh, Gil, I like the sound of that,” she said dreamily. Her smile turned teasing after a moment. “Well. At least we know we're good at letter writing.”

Gilbert laughed. “Not just letter writing, I hope,” he said, leaning over her.

“Not just,” Anne agreed, lifting her head, and they kissed.

**Author's Note:**

> In the book, Anne and Gil basically tortured each other for two years, imagining the other in love with someone else. I saw this prompt and thought, what if, perversely, they fell in love with each other all over again and had no clue? At least they tried to move on.
> 
> Adapted a bit to fit the characters, but the originally adapted summary is:
> 
> VIRTUALLY PERFECT by SAMANTHA HUNTER  
> Mills & Boon Blaze
> 
>  He’s just one click away…
> 
> Anne Shirley has found the perfect lover – online. When Gilbert’s ~~sexy~~ romantic words fly across the computer screen, he can seduce her in a heartbeat. ~~The hot, detailed images of them together feed her sexual fantasies.~~ The best part? Anne doesn’t have to make a commitment or even cook dinner for Gil. No fuss, no muss. She can switch him off at any time. So why is she feeling unsatisfied?
> 
> Gilbert’s ready for the next step – to meet in person. He wants to make it real with Anne. Their virtual relationship has left him in a constantly aroused state, hungry for a taste of her lips and the touch of her skin. He wants to ~~make love – all night long –~~ kiss the woman who’s captured his heart sight unseen.
> 
> Except, once Anne and Gilbert meet face-to-face, both are surprised at the outcome…


End file.
